Nostalgic
by AnthyRose
Summary: Fate was fickle. A two sided coin that was both cruel and kind. It chose it’s ‘players’ callously, and with one flip of the coin, a chance meeting could turn into one of exquisite love…or of anguished sorrow. KagInu


Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A/N: A little project of mine that I've been working on (on and off) for about a year. AU. Tell me what you think.

Prologue:

oOo

:Anamnesis:

It was in late August when fate decided to reacquaint them.

August 17th to be exact. Almost parallel to the last day she'd seen him, nearly 4 years before. She saw him now, clear as day through the glass of the store doors. And even though she was still a good few yards away, she knew it to be him.

Her heart stopped.

It was him. _HIM_. She'd never expected to see him again; a childish thought, true. For it WAS a relatively small town; they were bound to cross paths, someday. But she'd been in Tokyo attending college, one of the reasons why she hadn't run into him before. But now...now here he was, not even 24 yards ahead of her, cleaning the department store glass doors.

She couldn't let him see her! This was her first thought. She had to get away...turn around and run!

But it was too late. He hadn't reacted to her yet..perhaps he hadn't yet noticed her; amongst the midday traffic and the glare of the sun, she was just another pedestrian littering the streets, after all. But if she turned away, he'd surely see. Not only that, but it'd just prove that he'd won..that he'd-

_That he'd what_?

Won? That even after all these years she _still_ hadn't gotten over him? No matter how much she thought she had?

She trudged on. He couldn't run her away. She had just as much right to be here as he. And so she hardened her face, clinched her fist in the humid, 98 degree weather. Brushing her damp bangs out her face she came to the glass double doors. As she approached them, he moved aside, glanced over as one would glance at a passing customer before looking away. But then he looked back, doing a double take. Ah. He'd recognized her.

"Hello Inuyasha." she offered stiffly, before charging past without so much as a falter. She was a good 6 feet away before he managed to answer.

"Hey-" She kept going. Perhaps he'd wanted to say more, but she hadn't stopped, hadn't paused. Hadn't even given him a backwards glance. _Score one for me_. Her heart was pounding, and it took a moment before she registered where she was.

She was in _Athleticenter_, a low budget athletics store. Why had she come here again? _Come on, Kags, get it together!_ He was probably watching. She couldn't afford to falter...the last thing she needed was him thinking she'd come in here on purpose…just to see HIM.

_Hmph_! Indignation tinged her cheeks. She hadn't even known he WORKED here for crying out loud. If she'd known that, she would have stayed far away from the place. But the little town she'd grown up in was different now; she hadn't been here in three years really, except to visit her family on certain weekends. New stores and outlets were popping up all over the place. In a couple years it would resemble Tokyo, even.

_Hmm...maybe not_, she thought wryly.

Advil! That's what she'd come for! Keeping her eyes straight ahead, she marched towards the medicine aisle, plucking the first box of the said medicine she saw off the shelf and heading directly for the registers. After paying for her purchase, she turned shakily, preparing to leave, suddenly feeling faint. Her knees felt like jelly, and even though the store air conditioning was obviously set to it's highest, (some of the workers were wearing sweaters), her body was damp with perspiration. She'd have to walk past _HIM_ again...have to look again at that face before she walked out the door.

She only wished she'd dressed better. It was always like this, so ironic. The times when you ran into people from high school, you always looked your worse. People expected to see you looking successful, especially the naive country girl from Higurashi shrine who just so happened to go to college in the big city. Pumps, an excec suit...or atleast a nice pair of shorts or something. Instead, she was wearing a pair of frayed jeans with an old faded blue tank. Not to mention that she was practically melting with sweat.

Not exactly the picture of success.

He was still there, at those double glass doors, Windex in hand. He had finished the inside apparently, and had moved on to the outside, so that when she approached the door, he saw her coming and opened it for her.

He'd never done that for her before. She'd never even imagined he'd known _HOW_ to be polite. But then, he worked here, in this store. He had to show some semblance of politeness towards the customers. Still, she looked away, opting instead to open the other door for herself instead of going through his offered one.

"So how you been?" There was a small smile on his face, as if he were genuinely HAPPY to see her, as if they hadn't not spoken for four years, as if he were just picking up where they left off when they were still on good terms. She frowned. Didn't he remember the reason of _why_ they'd stopped talking? Why neither of them had attempted to get in touch with the other? Or maybe it just hadn't mattered to him. Maybe he hadn't even given it a second thought. She felt her resolve harden, and with stark determination, she steeled herself. Shoulders back, chin up, staring straight up into those bright amber eyes.

She had forgotten those eyes.

Quickly she turned her attention else where, to the display of stuffed toy footballs the store had set outside.

"Doing great," she finally answered. And she was surprised that her voice sounded so strong. "Just getting in some last minute stuff for college." He raised his brows.

"Oh...you still goin'-...?" She nodded.

"I've got 2 more years." Was she actually having a normal conversation with him? Without any insults? Without any arguments? She shook her head. Maybe he HAD matured. Although physically he looked the same...sort off. He was taller, not _tall _tall, perhaps a 5'9 to her 5'4. And his chest was a little broader, it seemed. Other than that, he looked the same. Same frosty blond hair, so platinum that it appeared white, almost silver, even. Same face. Well, maybe not _quite _the same. It had lost some of it's roundness, was slightly more refined now. But then, the last time she'd seen him was when he was 17...nearly 4 years ago. Of course he'd look a bit older.

He was dressed in the standard store uniform, black slacks, white button up shirt. The cloths gave him a certain air of authority; quite different from the loose jeans and carpenter pants she remembered him wearing back in high school. Yet his hair remained loose and wild, hanging about his shoulders and over his eyes in the familiar way she remembered. He was such a contradiction, she thought mildly, with his pressed cloths and his wild hair; she doubted anyone else could have pulled the look off successfully without looking ridiculous. He looked good. Really good.

And Kagome hated it. Hated that he seemed so polished and clean, while she herself was sweating like a pig. Hated that he seemed so put together while it was all she could do to stop herself from running away.

And why was it so hot?

Almost unconsciously she began fanning herself, shifting her bag to her other hand.

"So what about you?" she inquired politely. If anything else, Kagome Higurashi was _polite_. "What are you doing here, working at _Athleticenter_?" She was actually curious as to what he'd been up to in the past 4 years, she suddenly realized. Did he have a girlfriend? Were he and Kikyo still...?

He scoffed, sounding more like the Inuyasha she remembered. "This hellhole? I just started a few months back." He tossed the Windex carelessly through the air, catching it just as easily with his other hand. His reflexes were still as good as they'd been back then.

"If you don't like it, then why are you here?" He shrugged, twirling the Windex bottle.

"Gotta make a living somehow, right? Besides. This is just temporary." And suddenly he was staring into her eyes again.

She looked away.

Made herself busy with straightening the straps on her purse. She'd taken to carrying them the past few years. The girl's in her dorm building never left their room without them. Kagome had quickly realized the significance of purse carrying. It was considered feminine. One of the things that added to the allure of a female. Not to mention the fact that it offered a nifty way to store lipgloss and loose change. This particular one was a petite black made of firm leather with thin straps. It matched her sandals. Probably the only thing she had on at present that really matched, she noted absently.

"So. Been livin' it up as a college student," he asked suddenly, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall of the building. Kagome had to turn slightly to be able to look at him. Geez but that sun was bright. She wished she'd worn her sunglasses.

"Living it up?" she remarked distractedly, wiping her forehead.

"Yea, you know. Parties, boyfriends. Shit like that." He watched her expectantly with an unreadable gaze.

College. That's what he was talking about, she realized, suddenly tuning in. Her life in college. Suddenly her eyes lit up as they always did when she thought of that place. It was most definitely her best experience thus far in her life.

"I love it there," she said softly. "My friends are wonderful, the best I've ever had. Everything in life is so different than what I was brought up to believe - it's amazing!" She was finally venturing out of that neat little box she was brought up in. She wiped her bangs back from her forehead and absently tugged at the now damp shirt that was sticking to her body. The purse on her shoulder felt like dead weight, and she had to drop the bag of advil at her feet.

Was it really this hot out?

"Sounds like you're havin' one helluva time, then." His voice was light, slightly trailing, as if coaxing her to say more. She only nodded, staring at the door, the wall, passing customers; ANYTHING but him. She wanted to go, to leave this place and his eyes. Why did she have to see him again? Just when she had successfully stopped thinking about him. She had long since stopped wishing to see him around every corner and now, just because of the simple afterthought to grab a bottle of advil, she had ended up meeting a memory that should have stayed buried in her past. She wanted to go…NEEDED to go-

But she wanted to stay, too. Some part of her wanted to talk to him, to find out what he'd been up to, to ditch the polite small talk they were engaging in. _Why did you do that to me back then!_ She wanted to scream. _Why are you talking to me now as if nothing happened! _But she said nothing, eyes lowered.

There was a silence. An awkward pause as she finally looked up into his eyes. He gazed back, those brilliant amber jewels unreadable, unfamiliar in it's friendlier stare, and then he looked quickly away. Almost shyly even, she noticed. He put a hand in his pocket, still looking down in a decidedly un-Inuyasha like gesture.

"Hey. So do you still IM?" He looked up so suddenly that it caught her off guard. She almost took a step back.

"Oh. Um…yea.." Actually she didn't. Neither she nor her roommate had a computer, and the school library had a little 'thing' about people instant messaging on the public computers.

Not that she had any one to message online anyway. Not after HIM. He had been the only person she really bothered to get online to talk to back then. Now-a-days she mostly used email and her cell phone as a means of communication.

"Got a pen? Lemme get your screen name. Maybe I'll see you online." She dug into her purse, finding a pen and ripping a receipt in half to scribble her SN on. Why was she being so agreeable? She should walk away. Hurt him like he did her so many years ago. But her feet wouldn't move, and her legs were immobile as she stood there on the hot pavement. He stared curiously at the paper, face suddenly lighting with recognition. "Hey! It's the same name as before. I think I still have you on my list-"

_You did before you BLOCKED me, you jerk!_ The thought forced itself into Kagome's head like an arrow piercing through her psyche. That was it. She had to get away from him before she said something she'd regret. Had she forgotten what he'd done to her? The things he'd put her through? Both him _and_ Kikyo? How could he stand there now talking to her as if nothing had gone wrong? As if they were still the friends they had been years ago? As if she were still the shy, innocent girl he used to tease in high school, the girl who'd never had a boyfriend and who everyone thought of as their little sister?

She fought back tears, turning her head to watch a cyclist zoom by. There was silence again; a tension filled silence, at least on her part. It was doing neither of them any good standing here in the heat, not really saying anything.

He coughed.

"Well…..I guess I'll let you get back to your shopping, then. Maybe I'll see you online later on." Such a vague dismissal, she thought bitterly. _Maybe_? He was always doing that, always had. Why had she even wasted her time talking to him? It had done nothing but drain her mentally, and she had learned nothing; was no step closer to understanding his past actions than she had been before.

"Yea. See you later," she said trying to sound nonchalant, uncaring, as if it didn't matter to her either way whether or not she saw him or not. She stooped to pick up her dropped bag, might have simply turned on her heel and strode away, trying her best to put him out of her mind and life. This was the last she would see or hear of him, she was sure. And now that she knew where he worked, she'd never come to the place again.

Yes..she'd just put him out of her mind from this moment on. In fact, this moment had never happened. In another day she'd be back in college back in her dorm room with her friends, doing homework, writing papers, listening to the gossip of the other females, looking at potential boyfriends.

She would never have to see Inuyasha again.

Too bad fate had different plans.


End file.
